Apple's Jay Blahnik interview: 10 years of Apple Watch, teaming up with Strava & its fitness philosophy
We talk about 10 years of Apple Watch
It’s been 10 years since the Apple Watch launched — and changed the smartwatch landscape forever. When it arrived on wrists in early 2015, smartwatches were plagued by questions about why someone would wear a computer on their wrist — and fitness was one of the first definitive answers.
I remember working out with the original Apple Watch when it was first launched. I was amazed by the immediate GPS lock-on, and being able to run out of the door without waiting around was incredibly refreshing. But battery life was poor, I had constant accuracy issues (because the Watch used to hand off GPS tracking to the phone), and the tracking was simplistic. It didn't feel like a big moment, but looking back, it changed so much.
In a decade, the Apple Watch has become an incredible workout partner, and an ever-present at gyms, fitness classes, yoga studios, and start lines. In Strava's end-of-year report, it was the most used tracking device uploading to the service.
The metrics and complexity have grown — and it’s no longer a sports watch for people who don’t play sports. Series 4/watchOS 5 was a huge step forward with the addition of advanced metrics (cadence, vertical oscillation, etc), and since then, we’ve seen continuous improvement in the Apple Watch being a proper fitness watch.
Examples include the bevy of running features, custom workout builders, the ability to race PBs virtually, and even allowing services such as Runna and Training Peaks to write training plans onto the watch itself.
Jay Blahnik is the VP of Fitness Technologies for Apple and has overseen the evolution of Apple Watch since the very beginning. I've interviewed him countless times in the 10 years of Wareable and was treated to an on-the-record chat with him at Apple's London HQ in Battersea. And we took the chance to look back at the legacy of 10 years of Apple Watch, and what lies ahead.
"If we look back at the 10 years, what I think we're most proud of, and we're thrilled to see, is that Apple Watch can really meet you where you're at,” Blahnik told Wareable. “From Olympians to the everyday athlete to someone who's just getting started, really find that it can motivate them in the way they want.”
Apple and Strava could team up
The company has just announced a deeper collaboration with Strava, so that Apple Fitness+ users can have their workouts displayed properly within the ubiquitous fitness platform. Jay Blahnik spoke about the company’s admiration for the platform and how the partnership could yield even closer collaboration in the future:
“Our focus has been accurate measurement as motivation. Our sharing was really about personal sharing, sharing with the people that are closest to you. We think one of Strava’s amazing strengths is its ability to build community and to have people connected to the community,” he said.
“We have lots of folks on our own teams who are big fans of what Strava has done. And so I think this collaboration is kind of a mutual admiration, where we love what they're doing, they love what we're doing.”
And Blahnik teased further two-way collaboration between Apple Watch and Strava — with exciting opportunities for new motivational features and smoother integrations.
“I think we feel like this is just the beginning, and we're excited to see what we can take it and we love what they do. They love what we do, and that makes for a really good roadmap for collaboration. So I think we're excited about the future,” he said.